Revealed: What GCC millennials (probably) won’t buy online

Research showed 42% of millennials from the Gulf region shop on local websites, while 41% shop on international sites

The study showed up to 83% of millennials from Gulf countries have shopped online in the past 6 months.

Items that are least likely items to be purchased online by GCC national millennials are flowers (3%), pet related products (3%), music (4%), sporting goods (6%), hardcopy books (6%) and health products (7%), revealed a study by market research firm YouGov that surveyed a total of 366 millennials across the GCC in April 2017.

The study showed up to 83% of millennials from Gulf countries have shopped online in the past 6 months, with 42% shopping on local websites and 41% on international sites.

It also found the most likely items to be purchased online by millennials in the region are mobile phones (20%), computer software/hardware (20%), electronic equipment (19%), games (17%) and e-books (13%).

Furthermore, it revealed the most common barriers to online shopping were related to not being comfortable with making online payments (41%).

Other reasons included high shipping charges (37%) and long delivery times (34%).

Among female GCC millennials, barriers also included a lack of cash on delivery options (33%), uncertainty of authenticity of products found online (30%) and a lack of information about the return process (20%).